Single ram balers typically comprise a housing in which is defined a compaction chamber. The housing accommodates a ram assembly comprising a hydraulic actuator having a first end connected to the back of the housing and a ram mounted to the second end of the hydraulic actuator. The ram assembly is operable to reciprocate between a retracted position and a tying position.
In the retracted position, the ram is positioned in the housing, such that recycled material can be fed in the compaction chamber, generally by gravity. Once a proper amount of recycled material has been fed in the compaction chamber, the ram assembly is actuated and the ram is forced frontwardly by the hydraulic actuator, toward the tying position. As the ram moves toward the tying position, the recycled material is also forced towards the front end of the housing, to which is connected an extrusion channel, where bales of compacted material provide a surface against which the material can be compacted.
Once it reaches the tying position, the ram is in alignment with a wire-catch assembly for wiring the newly formed bale. The wire-catch assembly typically comprises a plurality of needles mounted on the top of the housing. The needles go down through a plurality of wire-catch holes defined in the housing, through a corresponding plurality of wire-catch slots in the ram, to reach the bottom and the top metal wires extending proximal to the bottom and top walls of the housing, respectively. The needles then capture the bottom wires move upwardly to catch the top wires and exit the housing, where the wires are twisted to wire the bale. The ram then moves back toward the retracted position, the wires exiting the ram through slots defined in the front portion of the ram.
As the ram moves backward, the baled material tends to expand. However, because the bale is wired, such expansion is limited and the bale generally maintains its configuration. In some instances however, the expansion force of the baled material is capable of breaking the wires as the bale exits the extrusion channel. This is particularly true with material such as plastic bottles or containers, which tend to have a higher expansion coefficient than paper or cardboard, for instance.
To alleviate breakage of wire when such high expansion coefficient material is baled, the amount of material compacted, and the length of the bale produced can be reduced. Alternatively, some may choose to provide the baler with an additional wire assembly to cross-tie the bales. However, this solution is twice more expensive in wire cost per bale than using a single wire-catch assembly. Further, this solution is not ideal since it tends to reduce the overall speed of the baling process and to make the baling process less efficient.
In some other instance, the cross-section of the extrusion channel can be adjusted to allow expansion of the material prior to tying the same. The presence of other bales of material downstream in the extrusion channel tends to preclude sufficient expansion of the bale to be tied. Again, such additional expansion steps tend to reduce the overall efficiency of the process, because of the delay encountered for allowing expansion of the material. Further, as expansion tends not to be satisfactorily, the wires can still break and the material has to be rebated.
Therefore, it would be desirable to be provided with a single ram baler that overcomes at least one of the drawbacks associated with previous single ram baler configurations.